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The Antiquity of the Ballad of Auld Maitland. 

 By Miss Russell. 



Some interesting circumstances regarding Sir Walter Scott's 

 first publication would have been mentioned in one or other 

 of my papers of notes concerning him, if I had been fully 

 aware of them. It has been long known, and, I have been 

 told, was in Sir Walter's lifetime, that two of the most 

 notable ballads in the Border Minstrelsy are not old at all, 

 but are by Mr Surtees, of Mainsforth — " Maister Sortiss," as 

 Sir Walter's retainers called him. 



These are the beautiful " Bartram's Dirge," and one of 

 the most ferocious of the fighting ones, I am not sure which. 



Now it has been suggested that Auld Maitland was not 

 above suspicion ; a long ballad of the times of chivalry, 

 concerning historical events, more or less, transmitted entire, 

 and known only to one reciter ; and that reciter the mother 

 of the Ettriek Shepherd, did seem too good to be true. 



I was aware it had been verified in some degree, but had 

 forgotten what the testimony exactly was, till I came upon 

 a newspaper cutting which mentions that Dr Carruthers (who 

 seems to have recorded the incident in print) had accompanied 

 Sir Walter and Leyden to the Laidlaws at Blackhouse, in 

 Yarrow, where Hogg was then shepherd. 



The cutting is marked as being from the Border Advertiser, 

 and of date March, 1877. It seems to contain part of a 

 description of an excursion among the hills, and says : — 



" A more out of the way dwelling cannot be imagined than 

 this same Blackhouse, and yet it is a shrine of pilgrimage 

 to the lover of Border lore, and reader of Border minstrelsy. 



